Recent dementia publications

This post identifies some recent publications on dementia. These books are all available from the library – if you can’t make it to our Hawthorn location we encourage you to call us on 03 9815 7800 and we can organise to send books to you. Remember, we do need you to be an Alzheimer’s Australia Vic member to provide this service.

Book: Where the Light Gets in : Losing My Mother Only to Find Her Again, Kimberly Williams-Paisley, Foreword by Michael J Fox, 2016

Many know Kimberly Williams-Paisley as the bride in the popular Steve Martin remakes of the”Father of the Bride”movies, the calculating Peggy Kenter on”Nashville,” or the wife of country music artist, Brad Paisley. But behind the scenes, Kim’s mother, Linda, was diagnosed with a rare form of dementia that slowly took away her ability to talk, write and eventually recognize people in her own family. “Where the Light Gets In” tells the full story of Linda’s illness called primary progressive aphasia from her early-onset diagnosis at the age of 62 through the present day. Kim draws a candid picture of the ways her family reacted for better and worse, and how she, her father and two siblings educated themselves, tried to let go of shame and secrecy, made mistakes, and found unexpected humour and grace. Ultimately the bonds of family were strengthened, and Kim learned ways to love and accept the woman her mother became. With a moving foreword by actor and advocate Michael J. Fox, “Where the Light Gets In” is a heartwarming tribute to the often fragile yet unbreakable relationships we have with our mothers.”

What would you do if you started to disappear? At the age of 45, our friend Laury Sacks, an ebullient actress and the doting mother of two small children, had a reputation as the quickest wit in the room. At the age of 46, she began forgetting words. Soon she could barely speak.

Our film, Looks Like Laury Sounds Like Laury, captures one year in the long, but short journey of frontotemporal dementia, a little-understood disease that strikes people in the prime of life.

But back to Laury. She lived on the Upper Westside in Manhattan with her husband, Eric, and their two young children. She had been an actress/writer for many years prior to having kids, and then devoted her time to being a mom and writing a memoir about her unconventional childhood. But a memoir requires memories, and when gregarious Laury suddenly became quiet, she began to have difficulty accessing hers.

The changes were subtle at first. She asked Pam to meet for coffee one day, but it was surprisingly difficult to engage her in conversation. To the question “What’s going on, am I boring you?” she answered prophetically, “No! I’m just in my head. ” Then she offered a reassuring hug – which wasn’t reassuring at all.

Everyone misread the cues: “We’re not as close as we used to be;” “She must be mad at me;” “Maybe she’s depressed.” As Laury’s friend Nelsie said, “I don’t think it ever occurred to us she couldn’t access language, that she was trapped in her brain and couldn’t access it.”

But Laury was an actress, and she was acting the hell out of her new part – a woman disappearing.

The film came about when Connie suggested making a film to capture her mysterious new life – and Laury jumped at the idea. It is the profoundly personal portrait of a woman who is facing the unthinkable. As she says straight to camera the first day of filming: “What do I hope for? I hope for – the truth!” Following Laury through her day to day life over the course of a year, conversations begin to resemble the famous Abbott and Costello comedy sketch “Who’s on First?” as Laury gives rapid-fire “Yes!” “No!” “No-Yes!” answers, and confusion reigns. Her husband Eric senses that not only does she grasp the absurdity of the situation, but “at some level she thinks its funny.”

We started filming during a hopeful period, with no idea of what lay ahead.

Laury was always a storyteller and she wanted to tell her last story herself. This is her story.

“Mom has nothing to do—I’m concerned about her quality of life.”
“My husband gets agitated when I need to leave the house—I don’t know what to do.”
“My father keeps asking the same questions over and over.”

These are some of the common challenges encountered by individuals and families who are caring for a parent, spouse or close relative with dementia. This easy-to-use, practical guide is designed to help at-home caregivers navigate these daily challenges. Although there is no cure for dementia or its many behavioral symptoms, there are clear and proven strategies that can be used to enhance the quality of life for persons with dementia—strategies that can make a real difference for their families.
A Caregiver’s Guide to Dementia explores the use of activities and other techniques to prevent, reduce and manage the behavioral symptoms of dementia. Separate sections cover daily activities, effective communication, home safety and difficult behaviors, with explicit strategies to handle] agitation, repetitive questions, acting-out, wandering, restlessness, hoarding, resistance to care, incontinence, destructiveness, sexually and socially inappropriate acts at home and in public, aggressiveness, depression. Worksheets are provided to help caregivers customize the strategies that work best for them.
The strategies featured in this guide have been used by the authors in their research and reflect approaches and techniques that families have found to be most helpful.

To be diagnosed with dementia is “like being blindfolded and let loose in a maze”. There is no clear treatment to follow, because each case is unique. But once thickets of misunderstanding and misinformation are brushed aside, there are pathways to hope.

“Secular models of support don’t adequately reflect Christian values of compassion, love and service,” explains Louise Morse. “Neither do they describe the power of spiritual support. This is key to the wellbeing of the caregiver, as well as the person with dementia.”

This book is packed with examples of what works, as well as practical advice and accessible medical information.

Louise Morse is a cognitive behavioural therapist and works with a national charity whose clients include people with dementia. Her MA dissertation, based on hundreds of interviews, examined the effects on families of caring for a loved one with dementia.

Fiction: Unbecoming, Jenny Downham, 2015

Three women – three secrets – one heart-stopping story. Katie, seventeen, in love with someone whose identity she can’t reveal. Her mother Caroline, uptight, worn out and about to find the past catching up with her. Katie’s grandmother, Mary, back with the family after years of mysterious absence and ‘capable of anything’, despite living with Alzheimer’s disease. As Katie cares for an elderly woman who brings daily chaos to her life, she finds herself drawn to her.